plow btm info.

What was the year IHC came with the spear point Plow Chief btm.? What year did they come with the Super Chief HS btm?

(quoted from post at 02:18:31 07/18/13) What was the year IHC came with the spear point Plow Chief btm.? What year did they come with the Super Chief HS btm?

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The RP bottom sure looks like a Plow Chief, has a replacable shin, spearpoint uses #7 plow bolt to attach, called a "Replacable Point Bottom" came out in 1944.

The PC Plow Chief bottom that doesn't have a seperate shin came out in 1950.

The RSPC Plow Chief with a replacable shin came out in 1954.

"Light Series" Super Chief with a 3-bolt share came out in 1956. Shares were 5/16" thick.

"Heavy Series" Super Chief with a 3-bolt share came out in 1956 also. Shares were 3/8" thick.

"Heavy Series" Super Chief bottoms with 4-bolt 3/8" thick shares came out in 1959. The left-handed bottoms of the same type came out in 1961.

"Heavy Duty High Speed" Super Chief bottoms came out between 1966 and '68, depending on landside type and moldboard composition.

The Super Chief Deep Tillage bottoms came out in 1968.

There was a "Light Duty" Super Chief moldboard that was thinner (1/4" thick?) than others, designed for something like applications of 45 HP and less (and lower speed applications?). I can't think of the numbers/name offhand and exactly when they were built. I've seen these on some Cub plows.

Terra-Flo bottoms came out in 1964. Sort of a Super Chief knock-off/ugly stepsister few (want to) remember. IIRC, landsides interchanged with Super Chief, other parts were exclusive to the TF bottom.

AG

Thanks for the info. It was exactly what I needed.

(quoted from post at 02:33:31 07/18/13)

Terra-Flo bottoms came out in 1964. Sort of a Super Chief knock-off/ugly stepsister few (want to) remember. IIRC, landsides interchanged with Super Chief, other parts were exclusive to the TF bottom.

AG

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AG, do you have experience working with the Terra-Flo bottom? I picked up a 540 with those bottoms on it last year because of the stories I have heard about the Terra-Flo bottom doing so well in the Large Plow class at the National Plowing Contest when it started in 1965 or 1966.

AG, do you have experience working with the Terra-Flo bottom? I picked up a 540 with those bottoms on it last year because of the stories I have heard about the Terra-Flo bottom doing so well in the Large Plow class at the National Plowing Contest when it started in 1965 or 1966.

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I have no real hands-on experience with the TF bottom and I can't say I've ever had a plow equipped with TF bottoms (but I do have a stack of new aftermarket shins in my parts stash). The only plow I've ever found for sale locally equipped with TF bottoms was a 550 plow an hour west of me at an auction last summer. At least 2 guys looking at it said if you wanted a plow to stay away from "those oddball bottoms" as they really weren't any better or worse than Super Chief bottoms, but you'd wait on the dealer to order parts if you needed anything, and it always cost more than the Super Chief, which were usually stocked at the dealer. The wear parts were nearly see-through and the plow had other issues, so I passed on it.

In the 50's IH started heavily promoting their Plow Chief bottoms as replacements for the old "blacksmith" bottoms. In literature they made derogatory comments about those (I assume Ford and Oliver) who would dare use thin, flimsy throw-away blade shares on their plows when, at the same time, IH was developing their own. By the mid-50's with plenty of advertising, they introduced the new Super Chief bottoms with throw-away shares. They had some issues with some thin, flimsy throw-away blade shares of their own that according to service updates took several attempts to get some to stop bending and breaking and some alterations were needed to correct/alter how/where parts wore. By the early-mid 60's, with the bugs were worked out, IH continued promoting the variety pack of Super Chief bottom options, Plow Chief was still readily available, but took a back seat, and most of the older "blacksmith" bottoms were being retired as complete units. I can't see where the Terra-Flo bottom ever seemed to get anywhere near the advertising/promotion/publicity push at all from IH that Super Chief bottoms got in their first few years, and the Plow Chief before that. Maybe it was more of a specialty bottom at the time that was never intended to be much more than that.

I've personally never seen a plow equipped with TF bottoms in use, and I'm fairly certain they were never at all popular locally. One local retired dealer once told me he never sold a single part for them in the decade or so he was in business after they became available and never ordered a plow equipped with them.

They were probably decent bottoms when used where intended. Maybe for competition plowing with a larger tractor at higher speeds to do a good job in a timed situation, TF's would be the perfect fit. Somebody somewhere is still plowing with some plows equipped with TF bottoms, as aftermarket wear parts were still available not all that long ago.

AG

AG, thanks for the reply. So the story goes, in the beginning, the Large Plow class had a stiff time limit and a bonus for finishing early. So you had to [i:98b094d62d]move[/i:98b094d62d] to get done in time. The Terra-Flo was the only bottom that could leave at least a little furrow conformation while traveling so fast. In the first year of the contest, the crowd was so thick watching that they needed people on horseback to keep the crowd back from the big semi-mount plows swinging around on the ends. And, you had to use the size of plow that the tractor was rated for. A 5 bottom tractor needed a 5 bottom plow. So, injector pumps were turned up, governor speed was increased on the gas engines, and weight was piled on.

I am now even more curious about the origins of the Terra-Flo bottom. Was it a special project from a product manager? For the Large Plow contest specifically? IH made a small run of unique plow bottoms in the 40's or 50's to compete in an important plowing contest in Illinois.

I always heard the IH "ACE" bottoms and similar bottoms from other mfr.'s did just about the prettiest job for smaller plows/tractors in a "competition" environment. Show 99 of 100 people around here a picture of those bottoms and they think Dr. Frankenstein got into the plow business.

The Terra Flo is a bit of an oddity, and I can't say much about them. It's history, reason for it's design, how/where they were used and how popular they were would be interesting. I knew they were built for speed, and that's about it. How fast, I can't say. IIRC, they had some really heavy/thick shares available, and shims were available to match the thickness of the mold and shin to the share. There had to be a reasonable amount of demand somewhere for TF bottoms as aftermarket parts were available. My shins are stamped IHC-TF and 71 C 62 (a NLA Temco number) is chalked on the back as well.

Some VHS tapes I have show Case having a marketing idea in the early-80's trying to sell the farmer a newer, bigger tractor (and try and save the company from impending doom), encouraging dealers to show farmers how to farm faster with a new, larger tractor and the same equipment they already have. Maybe a potential use of these bottoms related to a similar idea from IH, minus the company going under (at least at the time). Perhaps IH wanted farmers to keep the old plow when trading up and jump up into high range?

AG